A choice collection of stories for the preschool child, carefully selected, adapted, and arranged by two veteran kindergarten teachers. Includes nature stories, holiday stories, fairy tales and fables, as well as stories of home life. Emphasis is placed on fanciful tales for their value in the training of the imagination and on cumulative tales for developing a child's sense of humor and appealing to his instinctive love of rhyme and jingle. Ages 4-7

464 pages

$15.95

THE BIG RED APPLE

Kate Whiting Patch in "Kindergarten Review."

BOBBY was a little boy, and he had a grandpa.

One day Bobby's grandpa sat by the fire while Bobby lay
on the hearth rug, looking at a picture-book.

"Ho, ho!" yawned grandpa, "I wish I had a big red
apple! I could show you how to roast it, Bobby."

Bobby jumped up as quick as a flash. "I'll get you
one," he said; and he picked up his hat and ran out of
the house as fast as he could go. He knew where he had
seen an apple tree away down the road—a tree all bright
with big red apples.

Bobby ran on by the side of the road, through the
drifts of fallen leaves, all red and yellow and brown.
[59] The leaves made a pleasant noise under his feet.
At last he came to the big apple tree, but though Bobby
looked and looked there was not an apple to be seen—not
an apple on the tree, nor an apple on the ground!

"Oh," cried Bobby, "where have they all gone?"

Then he heard a rustling through the dry leaves on the
branches of the tree:

"I haven't an apple left, my dear.

You'll have to wait till another year."

Bobby was surprised. "But where have they all gone?"
he asked again. The apple tree only sighed. So the
little boy turned away and started home across the
fields.

Pretty soon he met a pussy-cat. "Oh, pussy," he cried;
"do you know what they have done with the big red
apples?"

Pussy looked up at him, and then began rubbing against
his legs, saying:

"Mew, mew, me-ew!

I haven't a big red apple for you."

So Bobby went on, and at last he met a friendly doggie.
The doggie stopped and wagged his tail, so the little
boy said to him:

"Oh, doggie, can you tell me what they have done with
the big red apples?"

The doggie kept on wagging his tail, and barked:

"Bow, wow, wow!

If I knew, I'd surely tell you now."

So the little boy went on until he came to a kind old
cow who stood looking over the fence.

[60] "Oh, mooly cow," said Bobby, "will you tell me
what has become of the big red apples?"

Mooly cow rubbed her nose against him, and said:

"Moo! Moo-o-o!

I'd like a big red apple, too."

The little boy laughed, and he walked on till he came
to the edge of the wood, and there was a big, gray
squirrel.

"Hullo, gray squirrel," said Bobby, "can you tell me
what has become of the big red apples?"

The squirrel whisked about and looked at Bobby.

"The farmer has hidden them all away,

To eat on a pleasant winter's day,"

he chattered. Then the squirrel ran to the foot of a
chestnut tree and began to fill his little pockets with
shiny nuts to carry to his own storehouse; but Bobby
said: "Oh, thank you," and ran up the hill to the
farmer's house as fast as he could go. The farmer was
standing by the door, and he smiled when he saw Bobby.

"Good morning, good morning, my little man," he said;
"and what can I do for you to-day?"

"Please," said Bobby, "I want a big red apple."

The farmer laughed. "Come with me," he said, "and you
shall pick one out for yourself."

So Bobby and the farmer walked out to the great barn,
and there Bobby saw a lot of barrels standing in a row,
and every barrel was full of big red apples!

"Oh, what a lot!" said Bobby. "Why did you pick them
all?"

"We didn't want to leave them for Jack Frost, did we?"
said the farmer.

[61] "Does Jack Frost like apples?" asked Bobby.

"He likes to pinch them," said the farmer, "but we like
to eat them; so we gather them in for the winter."

Bobby began to look about the barn. Near the barrels
of red apples was another row of barrels all filled
with green apples, and further on was a great pile of
golden pumpkins; and near that was a heap of green and
yellow squashes, and another of turnips, and then piles
of yellow corn.

"Are you keeping all those things for winter?" asked
Bobby.

"Yes," said the farmer, "we've been gathering in the
harvest—all the good things that the summer has given
us."

"And do the squirrels gather in a harvest, too?" asked
Bobby.

"I reckon they do," said the farmer.

"Then that was how he knew," thought Bobby.

Soon the little boy's eyes began to shine. "Won't you
have lots of good things for Thanksgiving!" he said.
"Pumpkin pie, and apple pie—and everything!"

"Well," said the good farmer, "I guess there's plenty
to be thankful for right here. Did you say you wanted
a red apple, sonny?"

Bobby walked up to the barrel and picked out the
biggest red apple he could find.

"Thank you, Mr. Farmer," he said; and then he ran home
to give the apple to his grandpa.

"Why, why," said grandpa, "wherever did you find it?"

"Oh," said Bobby, "I went to the apple tree, but it
didn't have any. Then I asked the cat where the big
red apples were, but she didn't know. I asked the dog,
[62] and he didn't know, and then I asked the cow and
she didn't know; but then I met the squirrel, and he
knew, because he gathers in a harvest himself. So he
told me to go to the farmer. And I went to the farmer
and asked him for a red apple, and he gave me this
great big one!"

"Well, well," said grandpa, when Bobby stopped, out of
breath. "Now find me a bit of string."

Bobby found the string, and grandpa tied one end of it
to the stem of the apple. He fastened the other end of
the string to the mantel shelf; and there the apple
hung over the fire.

It turned and twisted, and twisted and turned, while
grandpa and Bobby watched it; and the juice sizzled
out, and the apple grew softer and softer, and, by and
by, it was all roasted.

Then Bobby fetched a plate and two spoons, and he and
grandpa sat before the fire and ate the big red apple.

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